Friday, January 9, 2015

Adventures in Food: Dairy Free Ranch Dressing

You may or may not know that Daniel has been off of gluten for several years.

And as a result, we don't keep a lot of gluten food in the house.

It was an adjustment, but we make it work.

Last year, at the suggestion of his doctor, we decided to cut dairy out of his diet too.

Just when I had gotten the hang of the no gluten cooking, I now have the added challenge new adventure of cooking dairy free. (Just for the record, I did not type that last sentence with a spirit of complaint. While it is more challenging, I am glad to make these dietary adjustments because it is what helps Daniel feel his best.)

One thing that my hard working man had been craving for a long time was gluten free, dairy free ranch dressing. (You would be surprised at how many salad dressings have gluten and/or dairy in them.) After searching the grocery store shelves, there are some ranch dressings that meet these requirements...but they are less than yummy. So I decided to make my own.

Before we get started with the ingredients, I just wanted to say that this is going to be my 'winter' version of the dressing. Meaning I used all dried herbs, but come summer I plan trying it with fresh herbs. Ok, here we go:

Ingredients:

1 cup (real) mayonnaise1/2 cup plain coconut yogurt2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons chives

1 teaspoon dill

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1/2 to 1 cup original almond milk - depending on how thick you want your ranch.

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a bowl combine mayonnaise and yogurt. Smash cloves of garlic into very small pieces with a fork. Add to the bowl. Mixing as you go add all the spices, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar. Once all ingredients are mixed, add 1/2 cup almond milk. Mix and if you want a thinner dressing add 1/2 cup almond milk more. Salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

Daniel likes his ranch a little thicker, so he can use it as veggie dip as well as dressing. So I usually go with the just 1/2 cup liquid.

You could use any alternate dairy free milk in this recipe (rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk...) just make sure it is original flavor and not vanilla...made that mistake once!